Video-on-Demand (VoD) services have traditionally been deployed using distributed VoD servers and DVB-ASI (Asynchronous Serial Interface standard developed by the European Digital Video Broadcasting standards association) or ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) transport. Transport and storage economics previously favored a decentralized approach that minimized transport at the expense of higher storage and operation costs. More recently, however, due to the commoditization of Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) equipment, substantial cost reductions in 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) transmission and switching, rising storage requirements for on-demand content, and the high cost of network operations, a centralized approach for VoD services is considered more desirable. Accordingly, much of the multi-service operator (MSO) industry has begun deploying centralized architectures using GbE or 10GE transport. Using this infrastructure, MSO's are offering a variety of residential services and business services, such as cable TV, voice telephony, and data services.
The centralization of video servers provides several advantages. For example, server resources are shared among a much larger system. The cost of operating the network becomes lower due to fewer server sites. Much larger content selections can be accommodated without significant impact to overall storage cost. Content duplication becomes minimal; therefore content management and updates become simpler and easier.
As a result of server centralization, the corresponding transport network becomes an integral part of the VoD solution. MSOs are evolving their transport infrastructure from native DVB-ASI based networks to an Ethernet based infrastructure. However, none of them have achieved a cost-efficient solution, that can not only ensure that migrating to the new infrastructure does not disrupt services to current customers, but also protect the operator's investment in installed equipment.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a transport solution which overcomes the above-described inadequacies and shortcomings.